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<title>Half-truths by Firecracker_Newsie (Enjolras_The_Survivor)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26544001">Half-truths</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enjolras_The_Survivor/pseuds/Firecracker_Newsie'>Firecracker_Newsie (Enjolras_The_Survivor)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Secrets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:21:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>657</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26544001</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enjolras_The_Survivor/pseuds/Firecracker_Newsie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Spot</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everybody knew <em>of</em>  Spot Conlon. How could they not? The real question was how many people <em>knew </em>Spot Conlon.</p><p>Everybody knew Spot Conlon could finish a fight with barely a bruise. Davey knew that Spot made sure any bruises were on his chest and torso, where they couldn't be seen.</p><p>Everybody knew Spot Conlon could outdrink a man twice his size. Jack knew that Spot always ordered a soda to look like an alcoholic drink, then acted.</p><p>Everybody knew Spot Conlon could afford a doctor when his kids were really sick. Race knew that Spot never bought anything unnecessary for himself, saving and scrimping his earnings.</p><p>Everybody knew Spot Conlon taught his boys to swim at the docks. Jack knew that Spot was afraid of them drowning like Marcus had, Spot's only family.</p><p>Everybody knew Spot was short for his age. Race knew Spot's height was because of malnutrition and the year he'd been in the Refuge for before he joined the Newsies.</p><p>Everybody knew Spot had a cane and used it sometimes. Davey knew that Spot had it because of a poorly healed break that still flared.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Jack</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everyone knew <em>of</em> Jack Kelly. Since the strike, anyways. The real question was how many people <em>knew </em>Jack Kelly?</p><p>Everybody knew Jack Kelly was an artist. Crutchie knew that Jack had started drawing after his first trip to the Refuge.</p><p>Everybody knew Jack Kelly treated Crutchie like a brother. Davey knew that Jack and Crutchie were cousins, biologically.</p><p>Everybody knew Jack Kelly didn't show his feelings. Spot knew Jack cried when his boys returned, battered from the Refuge, or when a stray cat followed Race home and settled in the Lodge, or when the nuns gave them hot, fresh biscuits and coffee.</p><p>Everybody knew Jack Kelly wanted to go to Santa Fe. Nobody knew that's where his parents would have moved to, if they'd had a few more dollars.</p><p>Everybody knew that Jack Kelly didn't talk about his past. Nobody knew that the name Jack Kelly had come from his parents' middle names - Henry John and Eileen Kelly Sullivan - or that they'd died on the same day but hours apart.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Crutchie</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everybody knew of Crutchie Morris. But how many people <em>knew</em> Crutchie Morris?</p><p>Everybody knew Crutchie had suffered polio, which gave him his bum leg. Jack knew that Crutchie had been in an iron lung for six weeks.</p><p>Everybody knew Crutchie was optimistic. Spot knew Crutchie struggled to keep the facade up, and more than once, he'd come to Brooklyn to let the facade slip.</p><p>Everybody knew that Crutchie had connections with Brooklyn. Race knew that Crutchie had been a Brooklyn newsie for six months before he came to Manhattan.</p><p>Everybody knew Crutchie had to stay in the Lodge if it got too cold for his leg. Spot knew that Crutchie practised reading and writing on scraps of old newspaper.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Race</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everybody knows Racetrack Higgins. It's impossible not to, seeing as he's the only non-Brooklyn newsie who can sell there. But how many people actually know Racetrack?</p><p>Everybody knows that Race likes to bet on the horses. Spot knows that Race's dad used to take him there, before he passed on.</p><p>Everybody knows that Race can't say "oyster" properly. Jack knows that Race deliberately mispronounces it just to wind the other guys up.</p><p>Everybody knows that Race is a prankster. Davey knows that Race makes sure each prank is a harmless nuisance because he cares (no, really, he does.)</p><p>Everybody knows Race is the Manhattan Second. Jack knows that Race will pick Crutchie as his Second, and feels slightly guilty that he didn't put his faith in Crutchie.</p><p>Everybody knows that Race is always cracking jokes. Spot knows that Race does this to cover up the fact that he always gives half his food to the littles.</p><p>Everybody knows that Race is a beanpole. Nobody knows that Spot is just the right height to snuggle between Race's chin and Race's ankles.</p>
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